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Eight global miners look to partner Coal India

Rio Tinto, Massey Energy and seven other international miners have reportedly "evinced keen interest" in partnering with state-owned Coal India Ltd. “Nine global mining firms, including Rio Tinto, Massey Energy have presented as many as 30 multi-billion-dollar proposals to Coal India for partnership (either in joint mining abroad or through joint ventures),” a senior executive of a global mining firm told The Economic Times.

Coal India produces over 80% of India's domestic coal output and the proposals made to it are for projects across Australia, Indonesia, South Africa and the US. The company's aim is to bring coal from foreign JVs at rates cheaper than the prevailing cost of imported coal and to bridge the domestic demand-supply gap, which is currently 70 Mt/y.

"Coal demand is expected to cross 730 Mt by March 2012, whereas supply would be only around over 600 Mt," the newspaper commented.